Moving to Belfast - how do I start looking for good schools, nice areas to live in?

metalgal

im living in newtownabbey and there are some very good schools round here. (from what i have heard DD only 1) It all depends on your budget. where i live its all 3 bed houses and there is a great row of shops right beside the primary school so it is like a little village. plus its right beside the train station, motorway, hospital and abbeycentre (where you can get pretty much everything)

what type of budget are you talking? just a rough idea so i can give you the names of a few areas

Bigcammy

caz2703 wrote: »

This is a very big decision for you and your family and in all honesty I would suggest another wee trip if you can fit one in and try Co Down and East Belfast before you settle on Co Antrim - no offense Cammy

None taken, especially seeing as I live in the Stormont area and absolutely love it!

hatsepsovet

seatzie wrote: »

lol as someone who works in Newtownabbey I'd say no, its always a couple of degrees colder here than central/east belfast/holywood lol
but thats just my own prejudice lol in the winter the sun doesn't make it over cavehill in the afternoon so if you're at the wrong angle you may not get any sun in winter in the afternoon - sounds like bull? work colleague moved from Chimney Corner area because in the winter the ice never thawed for days because the sun never hit their house in the afternoon......having said that Jordanstown/Carrick may be a different proposition

This is why I posted on here - to find out info from actual people who live in the area and can tell me things I wouldn't have even thought of to ask. That was excellent point of you. Thanks!!!

Although we live in Midlands at the mo, we used to live in London, so we pretty used to very heavy traffic.
We are actually going to rent first; I had a look at rental prices for 3-4 bed houses in Stormont and I thought the prices were quite steep; is it an expensive area to live in generally?

caz2703

Not checked the prices myself but I know that Stormont is that bit dearer but then it's all about location, location, location! Near where I used to live in Belmont you're looking at between £550 and £700pm. For this money you're generally getting a 3 bed 2 reception semi. School wise in that area you have Belmont Primary which AFAIK still stops at P3 so the kids would be in different schools but very close by is Strandtown which is a big feeder primary for a lot of the local grammars e.g. Strathearn, Bloomfield (both all girls). There are others but I don't know them as I didn't attend them!

If you stick to North Down or East Belfast the kids will have a great selection of primaries and there are a very large number of great grammar schools including the 2 above plus:
Campbell College (boys, Belmont/Stormont)
Sullivan Upper (mixed, Holywood)
Inst (boys, Belfast City Centre)
Methodist College (mixed, Centre/South Belfast)
Victoria (girls, South Belfast)
Belfast Royal Academy (Cavehill direction)

In Bangor you also have Bangor Grammar (boys) and Glenola (girls) and in Newtownards there is Regent House (mixed). In my eyes those are some of the best schools in our wee country and most are handy to North Down and East Belfast.

spendaholiceejit

I am from Tyrone but about 4 years ago I was working in Belfast and living in Newtownabbey. I absolutely loved it. I was afraid of how I would fit in, being from the country originally and reckoned it'd be fairly tough to live there, but the people were so lovely. I have some of my fondest memories there.

I scooted in to Belfast daily regularly around the docks and it wasn't any trouble on the Motorway at all- just your standard motorway traffic really; nothing excessive.

I lived in Cregagh for a while too and it was ok, but Newtownabbey was really great.

Jakeysmum

Another area you may like to look at is Crumlin/Glenavy. Two lovely little villages, 2 miles apart, both only 25 minutes from Belfast.

The primary School (St Josephs) has won a multitude of awards and two of their teachers have won the Teacher Of The Year awards in the last five years.

http://www.teachingawards.com/winners/winnerDetail.ikml?id=61353&t=reg&y=12

There is great community spirit, loads of opportunity to get involved at the school and when we moved here I was amazed at how much they do for the kids, the school really goes above and beyond and the extra cirricular activities are very varied.

If you are thinking of childminding, some of the local childminders have set up their own carer and toddler group which runs every Wednesday and they seem to help and support each other very well.

Just an idea :-)

WheelieWood

caz2703 wrote: »

A 3 bed, 2 reception semi in East Belfast, nice quiet area, close to major links such as M3 & outer ring will cost you around the £200K mark.

or about 165K

hatsepsovet : I'd tell you how great a reputation Orangefield Primary has and then try to sell you my house... but it sounds like you're already thinking of outside Belfast itself. :rotfl:

hatsepsovet

caz2703 wrote: »

Not checked the prices myself but I know that Stormont is that bit dearer but then it's all about location, location, location! Near where I used to live in Belmont you're looking at between £550 and £700pm. For this money you're generally getting a 3 bed 2 reception semi. School wise in that area you have Belmont Primary which AFAIK still stops at P3 so the kids would be in different schools but very close by is Strandtown which is a big feeder primary for a lot of the local grammars e.g. Strathearn, Bloomfield (both all girls). There are others but I don't know them as I didn't attend them!

If you stick to North Down or East Belfast the kids will have a great selection of primaries and there are a very large number of great grammar schools including the 2 above plus:
Campbell College (boys, Belmont/Stormont)
Sullivan Upper (mixed, Holywood)
Inst (boys, Belfast City Centre)
Methodist College (mixed, Centre/South Belfast)
Victoria (girls, South Belfast)
Belfast Royal Academy (Cavehill direction)

In Bangor you also have Bangor Grammar (boys) and Glenola (girls) and in Newtownards there is Regent House (mixed). In my eyes those are some of the best schools in our wee country and most are handy to North Down and East Belfast.

Thank you so much for the above info. We're coming to Belfast for a week in a fortnight and Belmont and Strandtown are definately on the list of places to go and see.
Does anyone on here have kids who attend school in these areas?

seatzie

Belmont Primary is p1-p3 and Strandtown is p4-p7 both are regarded as excellent schools and all walkable in the Belmont area

caz2703

I'll PM you some info as I don't want everyone knowing my history!